Dangerous Coasters

nasai

Saturday, February 2, 2002 9:02 AM

This has come up in similar topics, but I wonder what coasters out there, especially ones I have ridden, are still operating, but have had numerous incidents that either involve deaths, or accidents. I can only think of a few deaths, but only one being a "fault" of the coaster, that being Mindbender. After riding White Cyclone at Nagashima Spaland last summer, and seeing how amazingly close those headchoppers are, I can't help but wonder how many people have hurt themselves holding hands up, or actually lost limbs. ----------------------- Check out my latest updates here!

SFGAmfan

Peabody

Saturday, February 2, 2002 11:36 AM

Rob, I believe there are nets around that area of the ride now to discourage the birds from flying right there. Of course, there is only so much you can do about that. I remember Fabio's statement after the incident...he said something like "I trust the park will install safety measures to ensure it will never happen again". All I could think of is how are they going to do that? Kill all the Geese in VA?

On a related note, one time I was riding the Beast (front seat) and we hit a Groundhog. He pretty much just splattered along the front of the train and the wheel assembly. A year later on a really low section I saw a deer jump a section of track 10 or 20 seconds before we got there. I'm SO glad we didn't hit it. That would be really bad. We all know what a single deer can do to a automobile, even at low speeds.

force312

Saturday, February 2, 2002 11:43 AM

You wanna know a dangerous head chopper? Le Monstre at La Ronde will surely knock your hands off in a few places. ----------------- "Well I heard that guys with long signatures are just trying to make up for a shortage in their pants..."

ravenguy98

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:05 PM

I here a lot of those coasters at Cedar Point are dangerous.

1. Magnum, because its sinking. I hear that if a lot of fat people are on the train then the track will sink even further. On the first drop the wheels can scrape the ground because of this, sending sparks into the air which can catch people's hair on fire. This used to not be a problem because of the mist machines and lasers in the tunnels. The mist machines would usually put the fire out but if that didn't work, then they had workers shoot anti-hair-on-fire lasers at the people, but of course all of these measures have since been removed. Now, if you get on a train with a lot of fat people, and your hair catches on fire, you're on your own.

2. Remember that girl that got her face ripped off when her hair got caught in the machinery of Power Tower?

3. Lets not also forget the time that Demon Drop flew off the end of the track and landed in the ticket booths.

4. You know that ghost that comes out of the carousel every so often? I heard from my Uncle who knows a guy that used to work for Cedar point, that whenever SFMM built a new coaster, the ghost would fly to SFMM, pick up Lemon Chill guys along with their stands, and hurtle them at Collosus for revenge because they are in so much competition, you know? This usually happened around Haloween, but SFMM then realized that ghosts are deathly scared of spiders, hence the spider gaurding Collosus every Halloween. This only caused serious damage once though, because of the ghost's poor eye sight. The damaged section was the double up, which is why they rebuilt it. Now you know how it got to be a mid course break.

Peabody

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:06 PM

It may look like you will get your hands chopped off, but designers/parks make sure that the clearances are fine. Do you think a park would really take that risk? If I had a park, I would guarentee that people couldn't hit beams by just holding their hands up.

.

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:08 PM

Haha! I have never seen any dangerous coasters, but what's this I hear about the Dragon @ Adventure World getting it's wheel glued on? ----------------- Visit: http://www.geocities.com/divorcedfromdependence

rOLLocOASt

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:21 PM

Peabody - I'd have to agree with you unless I knew otherwise. There are many coasters where you can hit your hands on supports. I'll name some CP coasters - Millennium Force. The last "arm" of the first overbank turns support structure. Numerous people including myself have hit that thing, and most on accident. That's why for the 01 season there was a new support beam there with a small "cutout" so most people wouldnt beable to reach it. Magnum's Soak City turn - Tons of people have hit their hands on acouple of the supports there, and you can see where the paint has been chipped off from the many years of abuse from unsuspecting guests hands. Mine Ride - If you've paid attention while riding, you'll notice at the times where you cross underneath the tracks, there are big black pads to prevent people from hitting the track. Things are not always what they seem. People can deny all they want, but sometimes they're definitely wrong. ----------------- Corey "Have you ever tried backing out of a drive-through bank?" - George Carlin

villege12

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:49 PM

Whenever I ride the Beast @ PKI at night, I always think that a deer might be in one of it's tunnels, and that the train is going to hit it. Is there anything from stopping a deer from entering the Beast's tunnels? I would hope the deer would maybe hear the train, or the people on the train, coming into the tunnel, and try to run out, but who really knows how smart deer are!? ----------------- "We're not done yet, don't take it to seriously, its just life will win in the end" -superchick[k]

ALF is cool

KIBeast

Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:58 PM

Peabody: I believe you about the deer on The Beast. One time there was a deer looking up at the main hill when the deer was standing on the ground, right above where the track goes underground. Scary stuff

Peabody

Saturday, February 2, 2002 1:04 PM

I know what you're talking about rollercoast...but it seems that the ones that REALLY look like you can hit them you can't. (It often seems that the ones that you don't think you can, you actually can!

coasterjedi

Saturday, February 2, 2002 1:13 PM

my friend once told me that I shouldn't ride Iron Wolf because it got stuck upside down in its loop extremly often.

then there's the legend of American Eagle, the coaster that should have been re-built years ago, but SFGA is so reckless that they just leave it up hoping that one day it will collapse and kill all riding it. after all, if the wood warps every time it rains then why shoudn't it come tumbling down?

for the longest time before I liked coasters, I had heard that Shockwave gave someone whiplash.

that's about all I know of, but that's just hearsay which most reports are going to be. if a coaster is really dangerous, it won't be standing today. if the public doesn't burn the park to the ground for having an unsafe ride, then the insurance company will rape the park of their money for operating it.

WCS4488

Saturday, February 2, 2002 1:18 PM

On almost every wooden roller coaster you can touch the handrail. I suggest you don't do this as you can get some mighty painful splinters.

You can also hit one of Phantom's Revenge's supports when you are on the Thunderbolt. The blow won't be as hard since they put the padding on support. ----------------- Jon-Visit my website whenever I get it up!

auscoasterman

Saturday, February 2, 2002 2:02 PM

The solution to wildlife on or around the track is relatively simple to solve. This system is currently used here (and probably around the world too) and is a neccessity if you are driving in the country. What they do is put a small gadget under the bonnet which emits some sort of high frequency pulse, that animals find extremely irritating, but humans only hear a quite clicking sound.

All parks would have to do is install a similar system under or around low track sections, to deter animals. I believe there is a very similar thing available which you plug into a socket in the wall and it is supposed to get rid of rats and pests.

Parks might not use such systems because they don't think such a thing is that greatly neccessary, or they are unaware of a system like this, or it hasn't been applied in a feasable way to the amusement industry, in which case, I call marketting something like this within the industry. :)